Great Ocean Road

from Melbourne to Adelaide

This
1000 km long route between the capitals of
Victoria
and
South Australia
belongs for us to the most delightful landscapes of
Australia
. Hilly back countries, nice holiday places at the sea, historically interesting
places and above all the bizarre steep coast make this distance to an absolute
Highlight.

To
drive on the left-hand side is really no problem, because there is not so much
traffic as on European touristic routs and with a tidy car including air
conditioning and automatic system, you can enjoy this trip very well. We wanted
to make ourselves no stress and selected our daily driving distances round 200
and 300 km.

Our
first stop after
Melbourne
was
Geelong
, the second largest Town in
Victoria
with its National Wool Centre.

Here
everything turns around the wool, from sheep shearing up to the processing in
the textile industry, everything you can see here in the best way. The age-old
mechanical machines were most fascinating, like the enormous loom with 1200
punch cards.

Following
the street to the
Great Ocean Road
over Torquay,
Apollo
Bay
to Port Campbell along the beautiful coastline and the fantastic back country
with its great landscape. It reminded us with its width of the South of Spain,
full-green hills, giant-large herds of cattle and isolated farms in the midst of
big golden wheat fields. This is freedom pure.

Approaching
the Port Campbell national park the coastal scenery becomes much dramatically.
In a spectacularly kind the Australian continent falls directly into the sea. To
the probably largest nature phenomena belong the Twelve Apostles, strange,
isolated cliff sculptures in the rough sea. Singularly, grandiose! Of course we
climbed down on the famous Gibson Stepps and could admire so this phantastic
nature from a very unusual perspective. All times whether in the morning or to
the sunset it always offered an unforgettable and incomparable panorama.

Nearby
Port Campbell you can see the parts of
London
Bridge
, which was originally connected to the steep cliffs on the bank. Some
years ago it broke down in a spectacular way.

On
our tour it was no problem to find a good overnight accommodation. Everywhere
you can find Motels or Bed and Breakfast. One of our most beautiful
accommodations was the Sea View Lodge in
Cape
Bridgewater
. Dennis and Jackie were very hearty and extreme friendly hosts. Unfortunately
we did not have enough time to spend more days in this beautiful home stay.

A
1 hour walkway over the highest cliffs of
Victoria
across the
Bridgewater
Bay
bring you to a seals colony, where you can see often hundreds seals playing in
the sea. We had unfortunately not very much luck because we saw not so much seal
families lying on the rocks as usual. Instead of it hundreds of flies
accompanied us on our Trip, a typically Australian phenomenon.

Also
you can reach the
Petrified Forest
comfortably by foot. In the midst of a moon landscape nature stand the plastics
of petrified trees. In thousands of years these singular petrified trunks
resulted from the interaction of sand, water and wind.

Early
in the morning the scenery is very fascinating and mystic. In addition of the
near steep cliffs and the noises of the big waves breaking on the cliffs is the
visit really unforgettable.